NATCHEZ — The boat is gone, but the plans for the Grand Soleil to open a casino in Natchez are not.

Grand Soleil’s Attorney Kent Hudson confirmed that the casino boat, which has been docked at the Adams County Port since February 2008 while the company’s other, land-based developments were being completed, had been sold.

“It was sold by the company because the company has no plans to utilize it in the casino development anymore,” Hudson said.

Instead, the company plans to take advantages of changes made to the Mississippi gaming code following Hurricane Katrina.

“Since Katrina, the Mississippi gaming commission changed the rules and now allows casinos — even on the Mississippi River — to be built in proximity of river,” Hudson said.

Gaming law allows for casino structures to be built on pilings over the river, but it requires that the gaming portion of the casino be over the water.

The decision was ultimately that under no circumstances would the casino use the boat, Hudson said.

“(The boat) was just antiquated, and as far as the new rules are concerned it is much more expensive to maintain (a boat) over the long run with the flux of the river and the apparatus required to get the people on it,” Hudson said.

A sophisticated hydraulic lift was being designed to help keep the boat level when the river rose and fell.

“With anything that convoluted, it is hard to maintain,” Hudson said.

The non-boat-based casino would eventually pay for itself after a few years, Hudson said.

“Besides, no one wants to have the last riverboat on the Mississippi River,” he said.

At one point, casino officials had said the boat, which was largely an empty shell, would be completely renovated.